Volaris 2016 net profit up 42.8%

Mexican low-cost carrier Volaris posted a 2016 net profit of MXN3.5 billion ($170 million), up 42.8% over net income of MXN2.46 billion in 2015, on a 29.3% year-over-year rise in revenue to MXN20.8 billion.

Volaris, in releasing its earnings, announced it would begin charging a fee for the first bag checked on flights between Mexico and the continental US and Puerto Rico starting March 1. Even without the checked bag fee, the airline said ancillary revenue rose 12.9% year-over-year in 2016 to MXN381 million.

The carrier’s 2016 CASM did rise 11.5%, and Volaris said it continues “to experience pressure in US-dollar denominated costs, such as aircraft and engine rent expenses, international airport costs, and maintenance expenses [because of] the depreciation of the Mexican peso.”

Volaris’s 2016 expenses increased 32.6% year-over-year to MXN20.8 billion and EBIT was MXN2.7 billion, up 9.1% over an EBIT of MXN2.5 billion in 2015.

The carrier’s 2016 traffic rose 23.9% year-over-year to 14.3 billion RPMs on an 18.9% lift in capacity to 16.7 billion ASMs, producing a load factor of 85.8%, up 3.5 points. Unit revenue in 2016, as measured in PRASM, grew 5.9% and yield rose 1.6%.

Volaris added two Airbus A320s and four A321s in the 2016 fourth quarter and ended the year with 69 aircraft in its fleet, comprising 15 A319s, 43 A320s, 10 A321s and one A320neo.

(Aaron Karp - ATWOnline News)